Man sentenced to 17 years in Amarillo drug case

A federal judge has sentenced an Amarillo man to nearly 17 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to trafficking about 3 pounds of methamphetamine, according to court documents.

Rodolfo Alcorta Jr., 38, was sentenced Monday in Amarillo’s U.S. District Court. He will spend 16 years, 8 months in prison after Department of Public Safety troopers found the methamphetamine in a 2008 traffic stop, court records show.

On Sept. 13, 2008, troopers stopped Kitprasong Chanthavong, a co-defendant in the case, for speeding in Donley County. The trooper searched the 2002 Acura MDX and found about 3 pounds of methamphetamine in a hidden compartment after Chanthavong consented to the search, according to court records.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents interviewed Chanthavong, who said he was going from Dallas to Amarillo, where he lived, according to court documents. Chanthavong told agents a person, known as “Root,” would pick up the SUV from Chanthavong’s house on Dahlia Street, court documents said.

Under DEA supervision, Chanthavong called “Root” to pick up the vehicle, and Alcorta showed up and began to drive away with the drugs in the vehicle, court records show. Authorities arrested Alcorta after he left the Dahlia Street house.

DEA agents had wired the SUV with a GPS tracker less than two months before the stop, court records said. On July 28, a U.S. magistrate signed a warrant to place the tracker on the SUV for 45 days. A confidential informant told federal agents the Acura was used to transport large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine, the warrant said.

Chanthavong was sentenced in May 2010 to more than seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to methamphetamine trafficking. Three other defendants — Victor Deangelo Brooks, 29, Thomas Tallant, 39, and Roberto Juan Martinez, 36 — pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Brooks will serve nine years after making a partial payment for about 4.5 pounds of methamphetamine from a DEA informant, court records said.

Chanthavong called Tallant on Sept. 13, 2008, to pick up the Acura SUV from the North Park Mall parking lot in Dallas before heading to Amarillo. Tallant received nearly 17 years in prison.

Nearly a month later, federal agents searched an Amarillo home in the 3300 block of Lenwood Drive and found Martinez dismantling a 2001 PT Cruiser, a complaint said. Authorities later found more than 11 pounds of methamphetamine in a compartment above one of the rear tires, court records show. Martinez received a seven-year sentence.

The last defendant, Vongsavat Sayasane, 41, was convicted of methamphetamine trafficking and is serving more than 21 years in prison after federal authorities saw him deliver 9.4 pounds of methamphetamine, according to court records.

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Unfortunately they all are receiving less than I would like; 20+ with no parole would be the minimum. They had no considerations for the tribulations and deaths their drugs would cause so why should their lives be treated with any respect at all? As a matter of fact I would like to see attempted murder included among their charges.

Now they get to be one of our charges, at great expense. They get to finish their education or start a new one while our children struggle to complete theirs. They get to use gym equipment that few of us can afford, and even watch TV that many can’t afford.
And they get to use a commissary to buy goodies that they can then use as prison money. Then there is that extra benefit of getting married so they can enjoy the sexual pleasures we all seek. They have a better chance of getting laid than most people walking the streets. Getting married in prison is something I vehemently oppose; the same goes for conjugal visits. They are prisoners, meant to redeem themselves of the crimes they committed, not some little bad boy that needs a paddling. And please, don’t attempt to explain to me how their rights are being abridged. Their “abridging” others rights is what got them there.

Let me attempt to be fair here, if a prisoner wishes to get their GED, OK, I’ll go along with that but any further education is their responsibility when they exit the prison walls. Going to prison and exiting a lawyer is BS. Maybe the books are available to them, which I don’t like, but no means to qualify. And to keep them away from computers should be of the utmost importance as it is with cell phones. Maybe a signal jamming system could be set up in prisons. Yup, more money.